HSBC Champions 2016: Thursday Leaderboard Scores and Highlights

Sweden's Rikard Karlberg carded a stunning eight-under 64 on the first day of the 2016 WGC-HSBC Champions in China to build a one-shot lead over a strong field. 

Rickie Fowler is his closest challenger after Thursday's action having shot an impressive 65, while defending champion Russell Knox, the United States' Daniel Berger and Japan's Hideki Matsuyama are tied for third on six under.

World No. 3 Rory McIlroy endured a frustrating opening round and could only card a one-under 71, but he is still in much better shape after Day 1 than another pre-tournament favourite, Dustin Johnson, who shot a two-over 74.

Here is what the leaderboard looks like after the first day of play at Sheshan International in Shanghai:

Position	Player	Overall	Day 1 Score
1	Rikard Karlberg	-8	64
2	Rickie Fowler	-7	65
T3	Daniel Berger	-6	66
T3	Russell Knox	-6	66
T3	Hideki Matsuyama	-6	66
T6	Bill Haas	-5	67
T6	Paul Casey	-5	67
T6	Francesco Molinari	-5	67
T9	Alex Noren	-4	68
T9	Sergio Garcia	-4	68

For the full leaderboard, visit the European Tour website.

Thursday Recap

Only at the last did Karlberg slip up in an almost perfect round of golf. He birdied his opening four holes and picked up another shot on the seventh to go out in 31.

After the turn for home, he moved to six under after a three on the par-four 11th, carded back-to-back birdies on the 13th and 14th and his brilliant approach on 16 gave him a tap-in to move to nine under, via the European Tour:

Some sloppy play on the par-five 18th saw Karlberg take four shots to make it to the green and, despite his best efforts, his par putt slipped by the hole.

It was still a wonderful round, though, and the 29-year-old was the pace-setter in the first round of action.

Just a shot back lies Fowler after he posted a bogey-free 65, with a birdie at the ninth—his last hole—pushing him into solo second.

One shot back, Knox is in familiar territory after his 2015 triumph. The Scotsman's card was also blemish-free and included a run of four birdies on the bounce from the 14th.

Via the PGA Tour, his putting was brilliant all day, and he will be a threat to Karlberg on Friday:

Plenty of other big names will be making a bid for the lead heading into the weekend. Paul Casey is on five under with Bill Haas and Francesco Molinari. The group of five on four under includes Spain's Sergio Garcia, and Open champion Henrik Stenson is one shot further back.

McIlroy had his opportunities to move further up the leaderboard but struggled to find any real rhythm, especially on the greens.

His first birdie of the day came at the 16th—his seventh—after he produced a quite remarkable drive on the short par four, via the European Tour:

However, he handed the shot back on the par-five 18th. A run of six pars then followed before he drained a tricky putt for birdie on seven and scrambled well to save par on the eighth.

The Northern Irishman has a lot of work to do if he is to be in the mix for the title come Sunday, but he has more than enough talent to go low on Friday.

Johnson, meanwhile, was left cursing his double-bogey six on 16, which was the major blemish on a round that included one birdie on the par-three 12th and a bogey five on nine.